Takeover target Anglo American is forced to defend chairman behind string of blue-chip sales

City grandee Stuart Chambers is under fire as yet another British business he leads is at risk of being sold off to a foreign predator.

Mining giant Anglo American was this weekend forced to defend the record of Chambers, its chairman, after it received a £31 billion bid from rival BHP.

Chambers – who has presided over the sale of a string of blue chip companies – rejected BHP’s all-share offer to create the world’s biggest copper miner.

He said the bid was ‘opportunistic’ and significantly undervalued the London-listed company.

But critics point out that Chambers, 67, has a track record of selling other household name companies when he was at the helm. He also has close ties with Sir Nigel Rudd, who was nicknamed Sir Sell Off after presiding over the sale of a seires of flagship British firms.

Driving force: Stuart Chambers has presided over the sale of a string of blue chip companies

City experts say Anglo, which also owns the De Beers diamond group and the Woodsmith mine in north Yorkshire, is firmly ‘in play’ as other rivals could also swoop with a bid. Most controversially, Chambers oversaw the £26 billion sale of home-grown chip designer Arm Holdings to Japanese investment company Softbank in 2016.

Arm went on to snub London for a listing on the New York stock exchange where it is now valued at over £80 billion.

Chambers was chairman of FTSE 100 drinks can-maker Rexam when it was bought by US rival Ball Corporation in 2015.

He was also chief executive of glass manufacturer Pilkington, one of Britain’s most emblematic companies, when it was bought in 2005 by Japan’s Nippon Sheet Glass. He went on to run that company. Chambers’s chairman at Pilkington was Rudd, who oversaw the disposal of companies including retailer Boots, defence giant Meggitt and engineer Invensys to foreign owners.

A senior City advisor told the Mail on Sunday that Chambers still deeply regrets the Arm sale, which highlighted the London stock market’s growing inability to attract and retain top companies. However, an Anglo insider insisted Chambers ‘wasn’t remotely embarrassed’ by the Arm sale and claimed his critics were driving ‘in the rear view mirror’.

‘The chair doesn’t single-handedly make these decisions, it’s for the board and then shareholders to decide,’ the source said.

‘It’s just not reality that one individual controls events.’ Analysts say Sydney-based BHP will have to come back with a higher offer to win over Anglo’s shareholders. Under City takeover rules BHP has until May 22 to make a firm offer for Anglo or walk away.

The rush of British firms to the exit has accelerated this year with Darktrace on Friday agreeing a £4.2 billion sale to a US suitor in the latest blow to London.

Jeremy Hunt will hold a summit next month at the Chancellor’s weekend residence, Dorneywood, aimed at stemming the exodus.

ALEX BRUMMER: Open season on British businesses 

The London stock market is having a torrid time.

America’s biggest corporations and private equity funds see easy pickings and are swooping on undervalued companies, some of them badly run, allowing valuable technology, patents and brands to move overseas. It has also become difficult to attract the most desirable floats to the City.

The careless explanation is Brexit. Yet the biggest money spinners for the City, including foreign exchange, derivatives and investment banking advisory services, have prospered since the UK left the European Union.

Until the late 1990s more than one-third of the equity in British-quoted firms were held in the pension funds of our biggest corporations.

Changes in regulation and the abolition of tax benefits for payment of dividends saw retirement money flee overseas for better returns.

As a result, less than five per cent of UK shares are held by funds with strong commitment to Britain.

This has made it open season on British businesses.